Last two plum trees in. First lawn mowing of the season on the farm.

I got a call from the Fulton County Conservation District, Thursday, saying that I need to pick up my last two trees - they were in!

So, on my way up to the farm this weekend, I stopped at the USDA offices in McConnellsburg and got my trees!  It rained heavily at the farm on Friday night but I was able to get the trees planted.  Before I put in the trees though, I needed to relocate the electric fence because the location I wanted to place the trees was outside of the fenced portion.  I dug the holes for the trees by hand since the tiller was on the tractor from last weekend (and switching out the auger is a pain!).  It turned out that hand digging was probably best anyway because the trees were small and they needed more "width" dug, then they needed depth!  I did mix up some rhizome slurry like i did for the other trees I planted this spring but I added too much coagulant so it was too thick to dunk the roots - so I just poured it over the roots after I placed the tree in the hole!  I also used a couple of the slow release fertilizer packets each tree, just like I did for the other trees.  Here are some pics of the new trees:

The two new ones are the closest to the camera.  You can just barely see the electric fence there just to the left of the frontmost tree

From a little further away.

Showing the electric fence a little better.

I really needed to mow the orchard lawn as the grass there was getting pretty tall. I fired up the Huskee riding mower and mowed most of the lawn (not in front of the house though - that sections grass wasn't very big yet).  Then I got into the mud and somehow snapped the mower deck belt.  The Huskee doesn't protect the mower deck like the Husqvarna does so when it hits something immovable the belt evidently takes the brunt of the impact.  Anyway, I didn't have a spare belt so I got the Husqvarna mower out and finished (well - I bent one of those blades too - but I straightened it out and finished the lawn).

I also,assembled the push mower that I bought at walmart last weekend and used it to clean around the left of the house driveway and trim in general (I really got it for the elderberries).  I am thinking that I might clean some trees out of the section of the yard and plant berries there.  Mom has some berries that I could get cuttings of and I could use more berries!  It's at least worth a try!  Anyway, I also removed some of the old barbed wire fence between the big patch and the road.  I cleaned the posts out and removed old posts and rocks and mowed that area.  Eventually, I am thinking I will remove that entire section of barbed wire along the road and put up a wood "slat-type" fence.  Anyway, while mowing around the elderberries I ran the push mower into a bunch of mud and it bent the mower blade so bad that I couldn't finish mowing!  I went and got the battery powered trimmer and trimmed around the elderberries; just around the berries - not the grass in between.   Anyway, I went to TSC and got a new belt for the riding mower and blades for the Huskee and push mower.  Here are some pics of the orchard after mowing:

I had to get this picture of Smokey.  He was attacked by a sticker bush over there.  I got vengeance for him though; I tore that fence out and mowed that whole area!  No more stickers!

It as too wet to plow/till this patch - I really wish I could have.  It's supposed to rain all week and I really need to get the tomatoes and other transplants in ASAP!

Oh, and the peach trees are starting to bloom:

The cherry trees will be coming soon.  I hope that there is no frost!  Would be interesting to see a peach or some cherries this year!

Hand pulled utility wagon - shopping - evaluation

Just saw a Woot that advertised a plastic wagon that could handle over 600lbs.  I am interested in such a wagon for hauling my anvil to the van to haul it up to PA, eventually.  I quickly looked at such a hand pulled wagon while at TSC last weekend and got interested in them as an option for moving that anvil.  They are not too expensive and I can foresee many alternate uses for them around the farm.

After read reviews of the TSC wagons and the woot wagon, I think that the best option would be the $120 TSC wagon.  reviewers say that that wagon has wheel bearing issues, but it should suffice for moving the anvil ONCE, and the bearing can be replaced!

Weekend update

Well, its been a frustrating weekend.

I went up to the farm Saturday morning, earlyish - got there around 11ish.  I immediately started to clean up the wood that I in the driveway last week.   But first, I had to sharpen the chainsaw chain.  After sharpening, the chainsaw was back to cutting through the wood easily!  I cut up the odds and ends that I left from last week near the old garage wood pile.  Last week I started making a round wood pile next to the garage. I stacked the wood that I sawed up.  I found a couple of pieces that I cut into chock-blocks for the trailer.   It occurs/occurred to me that I can't really use those blocks on the trailer while the trailer is in motion!  I had intended to use the blocks to help secure the tractor while transporting it, but I just don't see a safe way of doing it (the chock-blocks themselves would become dangerous if they fell off the trailer on the road!).  It would be safer to just trust the tractor brakes and the chains.  However, the chock-blocks are still useful for blocking the trailer while it is being connected/disconnected to a vehicle.

After finishing the driveway wood, I mowed around the paw-paw patch then went to check the tomatoes/garden situation.  I harvested a bunch of tomatoes and pumpkins (and some squash/cucumbers/cantaloupe etc) - most tomatoes came from the big patch.  After seeing that there were many tomatoes ready to process, I considered that I REALLY needed a squeezo/tomato strainer up there.   So I head off to tractor supply company/WalMart to see if they carried them.  I ended getting some canning jars at WalMart, and (too much candy!) some soda, but they didn't have strainer.  I went to TSC and still, no strainer, HOWEVER, TSC did have 3/8 inch hydraulic hose!  So I got 2 hoses that looked right and went back home to install them!  When I got home, it was getting too late to install the hoses so I went straight into working on the tomatoes.   I used the new strainer and it worked well!  I did scorch the tomatoes a little during the initial boiling (make sure you keep the temp REAL low and stir frequently - keep the setting under 4 on that stove!)  I got 7 quarts tomato juice canned with only about a cup of juice left over (which I drank).  It was past mid-night when I finished, so I went straight to bed afterwards.  I did take a shower while the tomatoes were in the canner (since it takes 40 mins in the hot water bath!).

Sunday morning, I woke up late - almost 9am!  After breakfast, Jay Knepper rides up on his ATV and I go out to talk with him.  He wanted to know about the wood pile situation.  I showed him the wood in the basement and garage.  He mentioned that while he was bush-hogging my field (there were ornamental pear trees left over after he hay-bined it last week) he saw that there were several dead trees along the fence line - he asked if he could cut and drag them out - I told him it was fine.  He mentioned that his friend at work was interested in the wood and that he would mention the would in the garage was available for sale (which I agreed to - but only if they came to get it on the weekend while I was there).  I am not sure of what I should charge, since I do want to get the wood out of there so I can work on the garage/shop (I am still considering converting it to two floors next year - need to talk to FetterVille).  He said a pickup truck load usually goes for about $30-$60 (depending on local demand- if there is snow on the ground).  I am guessing about 3-4 truckloads there - at best maybe 4*30 = $120 for all that wood, does not seem like much money. HOWEVER, remember - it gets the wood out of there and they are moving it!  While we were talking, I spotted a fox running out of the thicket below the front garden.  The fox ran up to the paw-paw patch - i think maybe he was hunting a mouse/varmit.  He looked in good shape though - maybe a bit thin. Then I noticed him running up the hill - right along the road toward Keller's driveway.  I told Jay about my issues with the tractor hydraulics, he confirmed my guesses.  Just turn the tractor off and raise & lower the front and back attachments to make sure they are depressurized.

After Jay left, I went to try the new hose and found that while one end fit, the other end did not!  I thought that the issue was that the hose was marked 1/2 inch and I mistakenly got the wrong size ( I got the 3/8 hose).  So I went back to TSC and got the 1/2 hose (after I called to confirm that they had it) . I got back home to fine that 1/2 hose didn't fit on EITHER side!  Then I noticed that the original hose had a different connector on the one end!   Anyway, after this I was frustrated so I went to harvest tomatoes from paw-paw patch.

I harvested tomatoes, and sunflowers and green beans.  I also picked up many of the red "pins" - hold-downs.   I decided that that point to just pack it all in and head home - since there weren't that many tomatoes ready to can and I didn't feel  like heading back monday morning.

I went back to house and looked down to the paw-paw patch - just a minute away - and saw turkeys moving along the edges of the paw-paw patch!  I took some pictures of them as they moved up the hill.

I packed all the produce and headed back to SS.  Didn't even clean all the dishes because it was already 6:30pm and getting dark.  I took the scenic tour using the waze app - get back onto 70 just before Hagerstown.  Was kinda cool.  Might be nice trip coming up, as well - we would pass a number of grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants (at least 2 chinese restaurant that i saw). 

I got back around 8:45pm, not a bad time.  About 2 hours an 15 mins.  After we unpacked the car and settled down, we cooked the green beans with some meat and some of the leftover tomatoes that Katherine was working on.

Later on I looked up a possible solution to the hose situation.  I found a 3/8 inch NPT to 3/8 inch JIC connector that should do the job.  Note that a 3/8 JIC is actually 9/16, I think.  I ordered from a hydraulic connector site: hydraulic warehouse.  Expensive shipping!  Hopefully will arrive this week, but I doubt it - I paid only for standard UPS shipping. (was still about $16 shipping for tiny objects!).  I preferred the adapter solution since this allows me to replace the hoses with cheap TSC hoses instead of custom hoses from CASE!  I still will probably call CASE  (hines) and see if they can order me some new hoses for the loader hoses.

Katherine stayed in SS to process tomatoes and eggplant.

Unfortunately, while processing the carrots I managed to cause a clog in the sink which did not clear the whole weekend, so poor Katherine had to work around that WHILE CANNING!  Ugh.

None-the-less, Katherine managed to process all of the eggplant.  I think its about 2 quarts of eggplant, after processing.  Processed by breading, baking, then freezing.  She also did 12 pints of tomato sauce (not seasoned).  She roasted the tomatoes in the oven - cooked them AND removed quite a bit of the water!  Great idea! Also, it gives the tomatoes a bit of a roasted flavor.

8/24/2013 Update

Haven't posted to this blog on time, so this update is in retrospect!

I got up and immediately got back to the wood!  I worked like a dog on this pile all day - dirty and sweaty work, but I was encouraged from the progress I made last night.  I wanted to get that wood done!

Katherine got a late start in coming up this weekend - she didn't arrive until almost 4:30pm!  We took off for TSC and WalMart to get stuff for the new trailer and some more canning supplies.